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Chapter 23—Wolfe
“Why so glum, chum?”
Wolfe could only shake his head at his team captain and best friend, Dante, and his archaic dialogue.
“Do you intentionally speak like a fifty-year-old dad, or is it just because you were thrown into the role of being a parent so early on in your life?”
Dante popped the top off a beer and slid the bottle across his kitchen’s snowy-white granite countertop toward Wolfe.“What do you mean?”
“I mean that you speak like an old man.A dorky old man to boot,” Wolfe chirped.
“Hardly,” Dante took a deep pull from his bottle.“But I did have to grow up fast when Mia and I lost our parents.I’m not quite sure how I juggled those months after our parents’ accident.I was lucky as hell to get the hockey deal I did my junior year in college.”
“Do you regret it?”
Dante considered Wolfe’s words for a second.“Regret being able to care for Mia?No.Hell no, but there were...loose ends from my college days.And with my parents’ lack of planning, I had to get cash fast to ensure Mia and I were taken care of moving forward.”
Wolfe looked around the posh condo.“Well, you’ve sure done well for yourself cap—Dante.”
“Not without a lot of sacrifice, but Mia-me is taken care of and we’re in a good place.Well, wewerein a good place,” Dante took another pull from his beer.“Enough about me.Tell me what’s going on with you.My dad-sense is telling me something’s off.”
“Off is one way to put it,” Wolfe gave a laugh that was void of humor.“BB—Aspen and I had a fight.A stupid fight that escalated quickly.”
Fuck, Aspen did have a point.Wolfe rarely called people by their first name.
“Wait.You and Aspen?”
“Yup.Keep up,Daddy-o.It appears she thinks I have control issues, that I try to command everything since my sister died.”
The color washed away from Dante’s face.“What do you mean your sister died?Dude, I didn’t even know you had a sister.”
How is it that Aspen helps him make one pathetic confession and he can’t keep from shouting it from the mountain tops.
“My sister, Elle.She drowned when I was twelve.”
Dante pushed his bottle of beer away and braced his arms on the counter of the granite island.“We’ve been best friends for how long?And I didn’t know this about you?What In the hell happened?Why didn’t you tell me?”
“It’s not exactly appetizer convo.”
